Court architecture

This article presents a number of new insights into the construction and significance of the Marian shrine of Scherpenheuvel. Archival research indicates that work on the dome of the church designed by Wenzel Coebergher (1557-1634) had already been completed by circa 1621. It is also safe to assume that the gallery behind the church and the Oratory house were completed much earlier than previously supposed. A stylistic analysis of the ornamentation used in the annexe behind the tower and in the gallery suggests that these were designed by Jacob Francart (1583-1651). In addition, dendrochronological sampling of the gallery roof trusses points to a construction date of circa 1630. This suggests that the entire complex was completed in one major building campaign, probably carried out within the lifetime of Archduchess Isabella (1566-1633). A typological appraisal of the gallery and Oratory house also suggests that the function of these buildings was not purely religious but should rather be located in a prestigious aristocratic context with international stature. A study of the devotional programme, which was based chiefly on the 1627 Act of Consecration, has revealed that there are two different programmes in and around the church. The side chapels and dome space of the church feature an archducal Marian devotional programme based on the Hebdomada Mariana of court chaplain Richard Stanihurst (1547-1618). The programme of the external chapels, originally comprising the four chapels around the dome space and the two chapels flanking the vestibule, was geared more towards pilgrims and parishioners. It is clear from this that Scherpenheuvel was systematically designed as a meeting place of two different worlds: on the one hand members of the nobility, on the other ordinary folk. Each group had their own spaces in the church, arranged around the grand, centrally located domed space where the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary was kept.